Martinez critical of gays, condemns Halloween in '04 TV remarks

CHELMSFORD -- State Senate candidate Sandi Martinez's campaign is defending views she made in a public-access show she once hosted in which she made comments that appeared to be homophobic, implying that gays have empty and meaningless lives.

In the show, taped in 2004 on the town's public-access TV station, Chelmsford TeleMedia, Martinez also talked at length about Halloween, calling it "blatantly part of the occult," and said witchcraft and satanism are growing popular with some help from public schools.

In one segment of the show, called "Speak Out!", Martinez seems to imply homosexuals have empty and meaningless lives, and protests how Christmas has been taken out of schools along with other religious symbols, but witchcraft has been introduced into classrooms.

Martinez, a Chelmsford Republican in her fourth campaign for Senate, also compares those who've been "saved" out of homosexuality to those who've come out from satanism, and how they tell their stories of what goes on in those communities.

"We've seen former homosexuals come out, who've been saved out of the lifestyle, who will tell you it was the love of God, that their lives were sad and empty and meaningless," she said.

Martinez's campaign manager, Tom Firth, said Tuesday that Martinez was simply talking about how people "turn to God to be saved," and that she "doesn't have any anger toward homosexuals or cultists."

Martinez, in the video, also compared gays fighting for rights to the civil-rights fight, but seemed to imply they don't deserve the same rights.

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"They want to follow the same avenue of civil rights that many groups have done," she said. "The homosexual community has quite often used, 'we have our rights to do this, we have our rights to do that, and you're discriminating against us, etc.'"

Firth said Martinez was only comparing how other groups, such as women or minorities, have fought for their rights in the same way.

"You clearly have an agenda," Firth told a reporter. "There was no such remarks on the video. To suggest otherwise is a clear distortion and biased reporting."

In an interview on Oct. 22, Martinez was asked whether she still has the same views. She wouldn't comment on her views on homosexuality and became defensive about the questioning. She has said during this campaign that she opposes same-sex marriage but believes same-sex couples should be given similar rights as married couples.

Asked about her comment that Christians shouldn't participate in Halloween, Martinez said "that's up for Christians to determine themselves."

"People don't care" about social issues in this election, she added.

"I don't consider what you're doing reporting," she said. Martinez said she would view the tapes in order to comment but didn't return phone calls the rest of the week.

In the video, Martinez also called Halloween "not something that Christians should be involved in," decried costumes like vampires and witches, and lamented what she called "the pagan invasion."

"I know witches actually come into the schools," because schools invite them, Martinez said. She added later, "As we see in school after school after school, Christmas is out and witchcraft is in."

The Chelmsford TeleMedia show segments also include videos made by Christian groups, in which one warns of Halloween as a day when children across the world are killed in occult rituals, and another calls scary costumes "all in the name of satan."

The views of the Rev. Ken Steigler, of the Wesley United Methodist Church in Salem, are more extreme than those of Martinez, but she largely agrees with him.

Steigler rails against witchcraft in Salem, calling themed stores in the town that sell little trinkets "a simple little beginning" that leads children further into the Wiccan religion. They also discuss the Harry Potter trilogy, in which Steigler calls author J.K. Rowling "not a witch" but someone familiar enough with it to "know what she's talking about," and that the books and movies allude to witchcraft.

The American media, Steigler said, covered the Harry Potter trilogy extensively because it "doesn't want the other side revealed."

The videos have been popular requests over the years with political opponents of Martinez, a Chelmsford TeleMedia employee said.

The views Martinez takes in the videos could damage her candidacy, said Tufts University political science professor Jeffrey Berry, who did not see the video but based his comments on descriptions from The Sun.

"Ms. Martinez's statements on Halloween are far out of the mainstream of American politics and if voters learn about these TV show segments, it's likely to damage her candidacy," Berry said. "Her views on gays run against those held by most Massachusetts residents and many will find what she said offensive."

Frank Talty, a UMass Lowell political science professor, said the videos are an example of how in this media age, anything a candidate says -- on a taped video show or at a meeting with donors -- can end up widely circulated. "Candidates for any office are well aware of that," he said, "and if they're not, they should be."

Martinez's competitor in next week's election, Democrat Mike Barrett of Lexington, who has watched the videos, said he has chosen not to publicize the views Martinez made or mention it to voters.

"It's going to raise some eyebrows," Barrett said of the videos. "No question."

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